Extraordinary
by AlwaysLaughing.x
Summary: We never know what's going to happen. We have a plan that we think is set, but it can change any minute. These changes can either be trivial or momentous. What do we do when something extreme ruins our plans? Some people choose to let it define them while others fight through it. Those people are what we call extraordinary.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm back! :)**

 **So this new story of mine is a little sad, so I'm apologizing ahead of time :(**

 **This story is going to be divided up into either two or three parts, and it's going to contain A LOT OF FLASHBACKS!**

 **But enough of that, let's get to the story:) Lovely readers, may I introduce to you, Extraordinary!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HSM**

* * *

Part One

 _Present…_

Gabriella Bolton looked at the clock on her kitchen wall that read 11:37. "Where is he?" she mumbled anxiously, drumming her fingers against the counter. _'The fight wasn't_ that _bad, he'll be back,'_ she thought reassuringly.

A wail from the baby monitor interrupted her thoughts, and she sighed, making her way up the stairs. She opened the door that led to the lavender-colored bedroom of her four-year old daughter. Said daughter was currently sitting up in her "big girl" bed with her thumb in her mouth, and fat tears dripping down her face. "Momma," she whimpered, extending her arms towards her mom.

Gabriella walked over and picked up her little girl. "What's wrong, my sweet Zuri?" She asked, bouncing her in her arms. Zuri wasn't actually Gabriella's biological daughter; her and her husband adopted her from the Democratic Republic of Congo when they went to the D.R.C. three and a half years ago to train nurses and doctors in modern medicine.

"I want Dada," she cried, leaning her head against Gabriella's shoulder.

She bounced her slightly, patting her on the bottom. "Why's that? Momma can do just about everything Daddy can," she joked softly, swaying her body.

Zuri shook her head. "Dada scares away the monsters fwom my dweams," she stated tiredly.

Gabriella smiled slightly. Troy had always "scared away the monsters" from Zuri's dreams ever since they first adopted her when Zuri's young brain recounted some of the horrific details of her small life in the Congo, and she remembered how he used to sit in the rocking chair in her room for the first few months until Zuri's nightmares mostly went away. "How about this; I'll rock you in your chair until Daddy comes home, deal?" Zuri nodded tiredly, and Gabriella walked over to the mahogany rocking chair and sat down. Zuri curled into her chest, and she rubbed her daughter's back in slow, comforting circles. As she heard her breathing start to even out, Gabriella's mind drifted back to the fight Troy and her had before he stormed out.

" _I don't want to do it, Troy! I've already lost two, and I don't want to put myself through that again!"_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the house phone began to ring. She cursed as she carefully stood up and laid Zuri back in her bed before running into the home office down the hall. She quickly grabbed the phone, not looking at the caller, and answered, "Hello?"

" _Hello, is this Mrs. Gabriella Bolton?"_

* * *

 _Three hours earlier…_

"How'd your ACL reconstruction go this afternoon?" Gabriella asked, biting into the last of her steak.

Troy swallowed and took a drink of his champagne before answering, "It went well. We had a small issue with getting the autograft from the guy's hamstring, but it worked itself out." She nodded her head and sipped on her own glass of champagne. He smiled over at his wife of ten years before grabbing her hand across their table. "Thank you for making this lovely dinner, baby. I know we haven't had time for each other with both of us in surgeries and whatnot, so I'm really glad we could have a date night, even if we had to stay home," he admitted gratefully.

Gabriella beamed before grabbing his other hand and lacing their fingers. "Of course, Troy. I've missed you, and I had the day off, so why not?" He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, and she looked up at him through her thick eyelashes. "I've _really_ missed you in a certain way, though.."

Troy rose his eyebrows and smirked at his wife. "Really?" he chuckled. "So have I." Gabriella sprung from her seat and quickly made her way into his lap. She smirked before grabbing his tie and pulling him to her, locking their lips in a passionate kiss. He gripped her small waist as she brought her hands into his hair.

He disconnected their lips and started a steamy trail of kisses across her jaw and down her neck. "I. Want. To. Ask. You. Something," he said between each kiss.

"Wh-what's that?" she panted, letting out a small moan as Troy sucked on her collarbone. She whimpered and pouted when he pulled away.

"It's really important, and I need you not to be high on sex when I ask you," he stated. She scrunched her nose but nodded her head for him to continue. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them, connecting his icy glaciers with her milk chocolate pools. "I want to have a baby," he confessed seriously.

"No."

He sat up straight in his chair. "Gabriella."

She shook her head and stood up from his lap. "No, Troy," she repeated, grabbing the plates from the table.

He followed her into the kitchen where she was washing the dishes. "Why not? Zuri needs a sibling," he insisted.

She stopped and glared at him. "I said no, Troy. That's the end of it," she snapped before returning back to the dishes.

Troy shook his head. "No, that's not it, Gabriella. I want you to tell me _why_ you don't want to have a child."

"We already have Zuri."

"That's not the same thing, and you know it," he said softly, pulling the dishes from her hands and turning off the water. "I'll tell you why I want to have a baby with you. I want to see your stomach get swollen with our child, I want to hear the heartbeat of our baby, I want to feel it kick, I want to have a little girl run around with curly hair the color of mine with your big brown eyes, I want to have a little boy that has your hair and my eyes, and I want to see you interact with them like you do with Zuri." Gabriella looked up at him, tears gathered in her eyes. He placed his hand on her cheek. "Tell me why you don't want to have a baby of our own."

She looked down at the floor and took a deep breath before she stepped back from him, causing his hand to fall back to his side. "I just don't, Troy, why can't you accept that?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "Because that's not a good enough reason, Gabriella, just tell me!"

"I don't want to do it! I've already lost two, and I don't want to put myself through that pain again!" she yelled.

Troy looked at her in sympathy. "Gabi, I know-"

"No, you don't, Troy!" she interrupted. "It's _my_ body. I get to decide what happens to it!"

"Fine," he snarled. "Just remember I've done everything you've ever wanted, but the one time I actually ask for something, I get shot down." He shook his head. "I have the best wife out there," he muttered sarcastically, and he started to head out the door.

Her jaw dropped before she threw a dishrag at his retreating form. "Just remember who's walking away from the fight!"

"Whatever!" he called over his shoulder.

She followed him and glared as he reached the front door. "Fuck you, Troy Bolton!"

The echo of the slammed door was her answer.

* * *

 _Present…_

The phone slipped from Gabriella's hand and crashed against the hardwood floor. She ran to their bedroom and slid on a pair of flip flops before going back to Zuri's room. She picked up her sleeping toddler and scurried down the steps, grabbing her keys and phone along the way, and going into the garage. She quickly fastened her daughter into her car seat, causing her to wake up.

"Mommy?" She asked tiredly.

"Shhh, go back to sleep, Zuri. We're going on a ride," Gabriella answered her quietly. Zuri nodded and quickly dozed off again.

Gabriella quickly got into the driver's seat, opened the garage, and tore out of her house. Her whole body was numb. Her brain refused to believe what the man who had called her had said. _'He'll be fine_.'

* * *

 _Eleven years before…_

"Can you believe it, Troy? In just a few months, we'll be graduating from college! Then we'll be going into med school. It seems it was just yesterday that we were singing for the first time at that ski lodge in Colorado, not five years!" twenty-two year old Gabriella reminisced with her boyfriend of four and a half years.

He nodded his head in agreement. "I know, Brie, it's crazy. But there's no one else I would've wanted to spend these last few years with," Troy said cheekily.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek. "You're too corny, Wildcat."

"You love it," he teased.

She smiled softly and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yeah, I do." She closed her eyes and breathed in his intoxicating smell.

Troy cleared his throat nervously. "Gabi?"

"Yeah?" she asked, not moving from his shoulder.

"I need to ask you something, a-and it's important."

She lifted up her head and looked at him in concern. "What is it?"

He swallowed hard before releasing a shaky breath. "I-will you..?" he stopped, and Gabriella furrowed her eyebrows.

"Troy..?"

He shook his head, suddenly angry with himself. "Dammit!" he spat, standing up from the sand of the Palo Alto beach and began pacing. "I had this whole thing planned out, and it was going to be perfect. I was going to get down on one knee, you would be sitting like you are, looking perfect as always, and I'd give you this whole speech; but I can't remember it!" He stooped his pacing abruptly and looked at Gabriella, whose eyes were soft in understanding. Troy felt something tighten inside his chest.

"Marry me," he blurted out. Gabriella's eyes widened, and he felt an anxious smile grow on his face. "Marry me, Brie. I love you so much that there isn't even enough words to explain how much. You make me a better man; you make me _want_ to be a better man." He stopped and grabbed her hands. "I never want to be without you, Gabs. I don't know _how_ to be without you anymore, and I don't ever want to learn. So," he released her hands, reached into his pocket, and grabbed the velvet box from his pocket. He got down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a simple yet elegant 18k white gold twisted vine diamond ring with a .3k round diamond. "Gabriella Anne Montez, will you marry me?" he asked nervously, holding out the ring.

Her brown eyes were filled with tears, and she nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, yes, yes, yes."

Troy grinned and stood up, picking her up. He twirled them around before stopping, pressing his lips to hers. As they kissed, he grabbed her left hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. When they pulled apart, he cupped her cheek and brushed away the remnant of her tears. "I love you."

She smiled up at him, gripping his forearm. "I love you, too, Troy."

* * *

 _Present…_

"Dr. Montez?" Gabriella had decided to use her maiden name when she entered the residency program, so she and Troy wouldn't be confused with each other. "What are you doing here so late?" Dr. Kelly Montgomery, the head of pediatric surgery, asked Gabriella, who was holding Zuri. "And with your daughter?"

"Troy is here," she answered distantly. She looked around the hospital, searching for where her husband could be.

Dr. Montgomery scrunched her eyebrows together. "He left an hour ago after a quick surgery."

Gabriella shook her head furiously, her emotions rushing through her. "No! He's _here_ ; as in he's here as a patient!" she cried emotionally, and Dr. Montgomery was taken aback. Zuri woke up from her sleep and began crying. She shifted her attention to her daughter and began shushing her. "Shh, baby girl, I'm sorry. Go back to sleep, Zuri, go to sleep," she whispered in a soothing voice. Zuri quieted down and rested her head on Gabriella's shoulder.

"Go find him, Montez, I'll take Zuri. I'm on-call tonight, and it's slow down in peds," Dr. Montgomery offered. Gabriella bit her lip and looked between the attending and her daughter. "Gabriella, go find him," she insisted.

She nodded her head. "Okay, thanks." She kissed Zuri's forehead before handing her to Dr. Montgomery.

She needed to find him. She had to.

* * *

 _Ten years before…_

"I'm getting married today," Gabriella breathed, looking at herself in the mirror. Her Vera Wang dress was so beautiful. The lace ivory column gown had lace long-sleeves, v-neckline and back, and an all-over beaded lace appliqué detail. Her hair was in a fancy updo with a few curls framing her face.

"You look so beautiful, mija," Gabriella's mother, Maria, complimented, tears in her dark brown eyes that were identical to her daughter's.

"You do look gorgeous, Gabi," Lucille, Troy's mother, agreed.

She smiled at the two older women in the mirror. "Thanks, you guys," she said.

The door to the dressing room flung open. "Ella, he's freaking out!" Chad exclaimed, looking awkwardly handsome in his black tuxedo and red tie.

"What?" Gabriella exclaimed. "He can't freak out! Only I'm allowed to freak out! He's supposed to be the calm one in this relationship!" she stopped and took a deep breath. "Bring him in here," she said calmly.

"What? Gabi, it's bad lu-" the mothers started to protest.

"Bring him in, Chad!" Gabriella snapped, interrupting them. Chad looked between the two mothers and Gabriella. She glared at him, and he nodded before walking out of the room.

"Gabriella, mija, surely you don't think this is a good idea?" Maria tried to reason with her twenty-three year old daughter.

"I do, Mom. I have to make sure he's okay with this. He spends all his time making sure I'm fine with everything; now it's my turn to do the same," she answered. She looked at her and Lucille. "Now, could you guys give us a few minutes while I sort him out?" The two mothers nodded and left the dressing room.

Gabriella closed her eyes and let out a breath. She opened her eyes and walked over to the bathroom. She shut the bathroom door and carefully sat down and leaned against it. She reached up and opened the door, so it was cracked. She leaned back against the door frame and waited.

"Brie?" his nervous voice filtered through.

"I'm in the bathroom. Come sit down and talk to me." She heard him walk over to the door, and he sat down against the door frame on the other side of her. "Tell me what's wrong, Troy." She waited, messing with her engagement ring.

"I'm scared," he confessed. "I'm scared to death. I feel like I'm going to mess this up. I'm scared that we're going to become one of those couples who only talk when necessary and have sex every Wednesday night. I'm scared that our careers as doctors will put a strain on our relationship," he took a deep breath. "I'm scared, no, _terrified_ that we're not going to be us anymore; that we won't be Troy and Gabriella, the couple everyone always looks to."

Gabriella chewed on her lip for a moment. How was she supposed to comfort him when she was feeling all those same things? "Put your left hand closer to the door," she ordered. His hand inched closer to the crack, and she snaked her right hand through the door and gripped his hand tightly. "You listen to me, Troy Bolton, and you listen well. It's alright to be scared; I'm trying not to piss myself at the moment. But fear is good. Fear means we have something to lose." She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. "You and I? We're going to be perfectly us. We will _always_ be us. We will always be Troy and Gabriella, the super couple. I mean, yeah, we're going to get in arguments and fights, but remember this: I'll always love you, even when I hate you."

He squeezed her hand. "You, Gabriella Montez, are one extraordinary woman," he claimed before bringing their joined hands up to his mouth and pressing a kiss to hers.

She grinned, even though he couldn't see her. "I wouldn't be extraordinary without you, Troy Bolton."

* * *

 _Present…_

"Where is he?" Gabriella demanded as she got to the nurses' station. "Where is Troy?"

"Dr. Montez, you're going to need to ca-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she snapped at the nurse. "Just tell me where he is!"

The nurse sighed. "Room 3328, ICU."

Gabriella spun on her heel and briskly walked to the elevator. She fidgeted anxiously as the elevator went up to the ICU level. Once she got off, she showed her ID and was let through. She walked past the rooms until she came to 3328. She stopped and just looked at the door. _'You can do this, Gabriella. It's Troy. He pulls through anything.'_ She took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

She screamed.

* * *

 _Nine years before…_

They were both silent as Troy unlocked the door to their apartment. Gabriella went over to the couch as Troy went into the kitchen. He pulled out the ingredients needed to make peanut butter and jelly. "Hey, I was thinking that we should go down to Palm Springs for fall break. We can go and see your mom for a couple days. It'd do us some good to just get away for a little." He put the two sandwiches on separate plates before looking into the living room when she didn't answer. What he saw made his already cracked heart completely shatter.

Gabriella was curled up on the couch, clutching the teddy bear he had gotten after she had told him, and tears were running down her face. He rushed over and sat on the couch, pulling her into his arms. She turned her head into his chest and sobbed. He ran his fingers through her hair as he held back his own tears. "It's alright, Brie. It's alright," he soothed.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Troy. I'm sorry I couldn't do it," she sobbed into his chest, the words slightly muffled.

He pulled away so he could see her face, and he placed both hands on her cheeks. She still looked so beautiful, even with bloodshot eyes, running mascara, and a blotchy face. "It was _not_ your fault, Gabriella," he said sharply. "It just wasn't our time. I mean, do you know how hard it would've been to have a baby while we were in medical school? Extremely hard. So it must've been some kind of a sign that we need to be more careful, and that we'll have a baby when we're ready, okay?" He could see that he wasn't getting through to her, so he tried a different approach. "The doctors said it couldn't have been prevented. Some miscarriages are just complete mysteries. I know that. You know that." Her lips trembled, and Gabriella fell into his arms again.

Troy kissed her forehead and sniffled. "We'll be okay, baby."

* * *

 _Present…_

It wasn't really a scream. She was screaming internally, but externally, she was silent. She was numb as she stared at the love of her life.

Except, it didn't look like the Troy she knew.

He had an endotracheal tube placed in his mouth and taped to his cheeks. His head was wrapped in gauze, and there were bruises all over his face.

"Troy," she whispered, gripping the side of his bed.

"Gabriella.." She turned, and she saw the Chief of Surgery, Dr. Mike Shapiro, and Dr. Lilly Johns, whom had been the resident to teach her and Troy.

She looked back down at her husband and tentatively grabbed his hand. "What happened?" she queried quietly.

Dr. Shapiro sighed. "He was at Sophie's diner." She closed her eyes. That was one of their favorite places to eat. "A guy broke in and shot two people, killing one and critically injuring the other. When the shooter went to the back, Troy tried to stop the bleeding of the other person the best he could. The guy came back with a gun to Sophie's head and made her open the cash register. Troy somehow got into a fight with him, and the witnesses said it looked like he was going to beat the guy. But the guy had been able to grab the gun and hit Troy in the pterion, the weakest part of the brain, and it ruptured the middle meningeal artery, causing an epidural hematoma. We found the cause of the bleed and rushed him to surgery, but," he paused, and she knew what he was going to say, "it was too late."

* * *

 _Six years ago…_

"Dr. Montez, where would we go next in the procedure?" First-year intern Gabriella heard Dr. Montgomery ask, but she couldn't answer. There was so much pain in her stomach that she couldn't focus on the surgery or anything besides the excruciating pain.

"Um- ow," she gripped her stomach.

Montgomery raised an eyebrow as she continued removing the appendix from the child. "Montez, are you okay?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I will be," she wheezed. "Oh my God," she muttered underneath her breath. This was a rare surgery, she could worry about this later; she couldn't stop it now.

Montgomery looked over at the star student, and her eyes widened slightly before she returned back to her patient. "Gabriella?" Montgomery cursed as the patient's liver started to bleed. "Give me more suction," she told the scrub nurse. "Gabriella, listen to me. Tell me what's wrong," she said, continuing her work.

Gabriella swallowed hard and shook her head. "Nothing, Dr. Montgomery. Don't worry about it." She forced herself to ignore the pain and focus on the surgery.

"Montez, something is clearly wrong. There is blood all over your scrub pants, and. Now, as your superior, I order you to tell me what is wrong with you!" she demanded.

"I'm having a miscarriage!" she snapped.

Dr. Montgomery's head whipped up in a nanosecond. "Gabriella, get out of the OR and go get some help."

Gabriella shook her head, looking into her orderly's eyes. "No, I'm staying right here. I can't do anything about-" she stopped as she started feeling lightheaded.

"Montez?" She looked at Montgomery, but black spots filled her vision. She felt herself falling to the floor, and Montgomery yelled, "Montez!"

When she woke up, Troy's pained azure eyes was what she saw first. She bit her lip and looked down at the hospital blanket. "Gabriella?"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up at him again. "I was going to tell you today." She let out a shaky breath. "I was going to tell you today because yesterday was the end of my first trimester," a few tears slipped down her cheeks, "which meant I was in the clear. But I wasn't. I wanted to wait so that if I lost the baby, you wouldn't have to be hurt, and I was so excited when I got past the toughest time. But I _still_ lost it." Troy squeezed her hand as he saw there was still more that she wanted to stay. "How do you miss someone you've never even seen? No; how do you _love_ someone you've never seen? Because I miss and love our baby so much; both of them. It feels as though there's this giant hole in my heart because I don't have either of them, and I _hate_ myself for not being able to stay pregnant because we both want kids. A-and-"

"Brie," he cuts her off, "please stop beating yourself up over this. I can't stand it." He wiped away her tears. "I wish you wouldn't have to go through this because it sucks ass, but maybe we just have to go through a few test runs before we get it right, okay? We'll have a baby when it's the right time." What he didn't know was that she planned never to get pregnant again. "I love you, baby, we'll be fine," he said, pulling her into a tight embrace.

She closed her eyes, letting a few more tears escape, and breathed in his intoxicating scent. "I love you, too, Troy," she whispered into his chest.

* * *

 _Present…_

Her husband was dead.

He died trying to save someone else.

Why did he have to be so selfless? Why couldn't he be the guy who ran when trouble came his way?

She shook her head. If he did that, then he wouldn't be Troy, the man she loved with her whole being. She sighed; she needed air. Gabriella walked out of the back doors of the hospital and sucked in a deep breath of air. She paced back and forth, rubbing her arms to try and warm herself up.

How could they not have saved him? They were one of the best hospitals across the nation, yet they couldn't stop her husband's brain bleeding. Now… now, he was just a vegetable.

She felt her stomach lurch, and she bent forward and retched by a tree. Tears dripped down her face as she stood up, grabbing the tree for support. As she caught her breath, she realized something.

It was her fault.

It was her fault that her husband was in a vegetative state, most likely never going to wake up. It was her fault that they got into a fight. It was her fault that he stormed out of the house. It was her fault that he went to Sophie's alone. It was her fault that he was brain dead. _It was her fault_.

She puked again.

* * *

 _Three and a half years before…_

"I feel so bad for these kids, Troy," Gabriella whispered, feeding a bottle to a six month old girl that she had bonded with over the past month. Her name was Zuri.

Troy sighed as he packed the rest of his clothes into his suitcase. "I know, Brie, it's awful. I wish we could just take them all away from here and move them to somewhere safe. They don't deserve this kind of life." He stood up and placed his suitcase by Gabriella's.

She bit her lip. _'Now or never.'_ "Troy, I have to ask you something important."

He turned to her, and when he saw the seriousness in her sepia brown eyes, he nodded and walked over to the chair in front of their bed. "Talk to me, baby."

She took a deep breath. "Maybe we could take one child away from here and move her somewhere safe?" she suggested hopefully.

His eyes widened. "Do you mean..?" he pointedly looked down at the baby in her arms, and she subconsciously pulled her tighter to her.

She nodded. "I really want to, Troy, please," she bit her lip again as she waited eagerly for his reply.

He sighed, but a small smile spread across his face. "I'd love to adopt Zuri, Gabi." Gabriella squealed and went to move, but he held up a hand. "But," she frowned, "we leave tomorrow afternoon. There's no way we could adopt her."

Her face brightened again, and she placed Zuri on the bed before she stood up and walked to her carry-on bag. "Troy Bolton, you underestimate me." She grabbed a folder and opened it before pulling out papers. She walked back over to him and handed them the paper.

Troy sucked in a breath. They were adoption papers. He looked back up to see his wife's hopeful face, and he didn't even have to think about. "I need a pen."

She grinned. "Really?!" He nodded, and she squealed and kissed his cheek before giving him her pen. She went back over to their bed and picked up the baby. "Did you hear that, Zuri? I'm going to be your mommy!" she cooed to her. "I love you so much, my sweet girl." Gabriella kissed her forehead before tickling her stomach, and Zuri giggled, kicking her legs.

As Gabriella played with her baby, Troy watched the interaction with a content smile on his face. Finally, they'd have their little family.

* * *

 _Present…_

Gabriella leaned her head back against the wall with Zuri's sleeping form in her lap. She rubbed up and down Zuri's arm as she forced herself to not think, and she closed her eyes.

The sound of tennis shoes squeaking against the tile made her open her eyes, and she saw Dr. Lloyd, one of her residents, walking towards her with a clipboard. She pursed her lips as he sat down next to her. "Dr. Montez, I'm so sorry about-"

"Where are the papers?" she cut him off, looking at him expectantly.

Dr. Lloyd was startled by her abruptness but quickly composed himself. "Dr. Montez, there are some things we need to talk about. Things that are diff-"

She rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten that I'm a surgeon? I know how this works. You brought me papers to sign whether I want to send my husband off to a long-term care facility center and pray for the miracle of him waking up or do I want to take him off any life-sustaining machines and terminate his life, like any other doctor would do? You'd ask if I'd want to donate his organs, but everything is shot, according to his charts. That's what you came to talk to me about, correct? About killing my husband? You wanted to talk about killing my husband with our sleeping three year old daughter in my lap," she laughed dryly, tears gathering in her eyes. "Give me the papers."

He didn't know what to say. "I-"

"Give me the damn papers!" she yelled. He flinched before handing her the clipboard and pen. She glared at him, and he scurried away. She glanced down at the still sleeping Zuri and picked her up, moving her so that she was laying down on the row of chairs.

Gabriella bit her lip and looked down at the papers, and she sighed.

* * *

 _Two years before…_

"I love watching them together," Chad commented as he watched his three year old son, Theo, run around with two year old Zuri Troy and Gabriella's large backyard of their new house.

Gabriella nodded, a content smile on her face. "Me too," she agreed, her eyes following her stumbling daughter.

Chad glanced at her from the corner of his eyes before shifting back to his son and goddaughter. "In a of couple years, Ellie will be out there, too," he paused, "Will there be any other Bolton children added to the mix?"

Her shoulders tensed, and she crossed her arms together. "Nope, it'll just be Zuri," she answered, forcing herself to sound calm. "Troy and I haven't talked about kids. Our little family is perfect for us."

He rolled his eyes. "Gabs, Troy wants kids, and so do you. You're just too scared," he pointed out, knowing as soon as he said that he had hit a nerve.

She turned sharply and glared at him. "You don't get to criticize me, Chad Danforth. You have _no_ idea what I've had to endure. If Taylor ever miscarries, and I'm praying she never has to go through that, then come talk to me," she snapped.

"Look, Gab-"

The patio door slid open, and Taylor and Troy walked out. Troy was carrying Ellie in his arms, Chad and Taylor's two month old daughter, and Gabriella forced a smile on her lips. "Chad, man, this little girl can eat! She downed two bottles already!" He exclaimed to his best friend, handing Ellie to him before walking over to Gabriella.

Taylor snorted. "Troy, you must be forgetting who her father is," she remarked dryly. The group laughed, and Gabriella laced her arm with Troy's.

He nodded his head in agreement. "True, true. Hopefully she doesn't get his brains," he joked.

"Hey!" Chad said in false hurt. "If you and Gabi ever have kids, I hope they get her looks!" Gabriella glared at Chad, and he shrugged his shoulders.

Troy chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she looked up at him. "Me too, Chad, me too." There was such a beautiful sparkle in his eye about the thought of their future children that she had to force herself to avert her gaze.

She was never having a child of her own.

* * *

 _Present…_

She looked at him. Could she do this? Could she _really_ be the one to end this beautiful man's life? There was a chance he could wake up, albeit small. This brought her back to her original question: could she do this?

She couldn't live without him.

She sighed. Why did this have to be so hard?

"Troy," she whispered. She moved to the chair beside the bed and gripped his left hand. "Troy," she tried again.

There was no response, no movement from her husband.

A tear fell from her left eye and dribbled down her cheek. "I love you." She stroked his hand, running her fingers over his silver wedding band. "More than anything in the world." More tears began to escape from her eyes. "We'll be okay, Zuri and I. It's okay," she whispered, sniffling as she brought her hand up to stroke his head. "It's okay to go, Troy. We'll be okay," she repeated. "You'll get to be with our babies. Take care of them, okay? I'll take care of Zuri. She'll be loved so much that words won't be able to describe it because I know that's how you would want it." She sucked in a deep breath, looking at the love of her life. He looked peaceful, content.

Gabriella just wished he would open his playful blue eyes and tell her that this was all just a cruel joke, the crooked smile on his thin lips that she adored so much.

"Dr. Montez?" She looked over at the door to see a nurse whose name she couldn't care to remember at the moment. "I'm here to take Dr. Bolton off the machines." _I'm here to kill your husband._ "Are you ready?"

She pursed her lips and looked back at Troy before looking back at the nurse. "No, but do it anyways." The nurse nodded timidly, and she crossed her arms as she watched the nurse unhook everything. "Wait!" she stopped the nurse as she got to the ventilator. "Please, just wait." She placed her hand on his chest. "Troy," she whispered urgently, hoping he'd magically wake up. She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned down, pressing her lips to his for the last time. Tears dripped onto him as she pulled away. She rolled in her lips and nodded her head. "Go on," she croaked to the nurse.

The nurse nodded and turned off the ventilator. Troy's chest rose and fell for the last time. "Time of death: 1:37," Gabriella mumbled to herself.

* * *

 **Soooooooo...**

 **What'd you guys think?**

 **Let me know! Remember, reviews are very motivating ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi readers! I'm sorry this has taken so long, but school was killing me :') Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HSM, the scenes from HSM, or the quote by Cassandra Claire.**

* * *

Part Two

 _One year before…_

Chaos.

That one word could be used to describe her life the past two weeks.

Complete and utter chaos.

"Dr. Montez?"

"What?" she snapped, looking up from a patient's chart to see an intern in front of her.

"I was wondering if you were free at the moment?"

She looked between her charts and her intern. She sighed and shut the chart, turning to her. "What do you need, Dr. Ramirez?" she asked tiredly.

Dr. Ramirez twitched nervously. "Dr. Bolton needs to see you. It's urgent."

Gabriella raised an eyebrow. "Why hasn't he paged me, then?"

The intern cleared her throat and stood up straighter. "His batteries died, and he hasn't had the time to get them replaced."

She squinted her eyes for a moment before rolling her eyes and standing up. "Whatever, where is he?"

"Exam room one."

She nodded her head and left the nurses' station. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat as she made her way to exam room one. She didn't know if this was a good idea or not. They hadn't talked for the past week and a half. She stopped as she came to the door of the exam room and took a deep breath before knocking on the door and opening it.

"Dr. Montez, so great of you to join me," he greeted with sarcasm dripping from his tone, not looking away from the x-rays.

She glared at his back. _'So this is how we're going to play.'_ "Hello, Dr. Bolton. Is there a reason you asked for me or was this just a social call?" she queried coldly.

Troy glanced back at her, his bright blue eyes capturing hers for a moment, before turning back to the x-rays. "Will you come look at these?" he asked.

Gabriella walked over to the x-rays and placed her arms behind her back. She leaned forward to examine them. The patient was obviously an infant by the size of her bones, and something was completely wrong with her hip and legs.

"It seems like there's multiple problems with this baby. It looks like severe infant hip dysplasia with the right side of her hip drastically damaged, and both legs are broken. Why are you just now showing me this?!" she exclaimed. "This baby has to be in a multitude of pain, and here we are, just looking at her scans! We need to get her into surgery immediately!"

He shook his head. "This baby isn't in pain anymore. She's a joyful, little three-year old girl now who hasn't experienced pain in a long time." He grabbed another page of x-rays and placed it next to the others.

She stopped and looked back at the x-rays. "These are Zuri's," she realized in awe, looking at before and after x-rays. She then furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her husband. "Why are you showing me these?"

His oceanic eyes captured hers, and she couldn't look away. "I showed you these because this was the first time we were ever a team. We were a team, even when it got hard. We didn't have the equipment we needed, but we still were able to fix Zuri and multiple other children. We are a _team_ ," he paused, shaking his head. "But we haven't been a very good team in the past few weeks."

Gabriella bit her lip, and she started to say, "I-"

He cut her off, "I don't know what happened to us, Gabriella, but I can't do this anymore. Maybe work has been too stressful, or raising Zuri, or getting settled into the house, I don't know. I just can't keep getting into big fights with you over something small, or us completely ignoring each other at work or home. I definitely don't want to keep living at the hospital like I have for the last ten days. I love you, Brie. I don't want to fight anymore."

The ruthless pediatric surgeon softened back into his wife, and tears welled in her eyes before she threw her arms around her Troy. "I love you, too, Troy. It's time for you to come back home."

* * *

 _Present_...

Troy was dead. Her husband of ten years was dead. The love of her life for the past sixteen years was dead. He was _dead_.

What was she supposed to do now?

She couldn't even go into their bedroom; it was too much.

Gabriella looked down at their sleeping daughter and sighed. She stood up from the rocking chair and placed Zuri in her bed, pulling the covers over her and kissing her forehead. She left the room and went downstairs to the living room and just looked around their house. How could she be here without him?

She released a shaky breath and walked over to the couch, tentatively sitting down. She ran her hands over the smooth black leather and closed her eyes.

Flashes of him came to her mind, and she squeezed her eyes tight, wanting to suppress the tears. She wasn't successful as the salty drops started to drip down her face. Her shoulders shook as she let out all the tears she had been holding back all day.

Her heart ached. The pain was unbearable. How could she go on without him? He was her air; she couldn't survive without him.

As she sobbed, she got a glimpse of their wedding picture on the center table. She grabbed it and looked at their young, smiling faces. She pressed it to her chest as more tears fell from her eyes. "Oh, Troy."

After a few minutes, she began to calm down, but she didn't feel any better. She felt the unendurable pain that was spread throughout her whole body. When Troy died, a part of her went with him.

Her stomach lurched, and she ran for the nearest bathroom.

* * *

 _Two months before..._

A decade.

They had been married for a decade. Ten whole years had passed since she had become Gabriella Anne Bolton.

"Mommy, you look so pwetty!" Zuri squealed from her place on the bathroom counter.

Gabriella smiled and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Thanks, baby girl."

She did have to agree with Zuri: she looked amazing. It had been ages since she had dressed up; she felt like the only thing she wore these days were scrubs. She had on a flowing, long sleeved white dress that stopped mid-thigh and beige wedges were on her feet. She added some rings and put on a necklace to add to her outfit before she looked at Zuri. "I'm ready for this date with Daddy," she stated before grabbing their daughter and swinging her off the counter. Zuri giggled incessantly, and Gabriella joined in as the two made their ways downstairs.

Troy, who had been waiting downstairs with his dad, looked up when he heard his wife and daughter laughing. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at his love. She was mesmerizing. Her smile made him feel weak in the knees, her laugh made his stomach rumble with butterflies, and the sparkle in her eyes as she looked up at him made his heart beat irregularly.

He stood up and smiled at her. "It's always a pleasure hearing my favorite girls' laughs, it brightens my day."

Gabriella rolled her eyes with a smile. "Suck up," she said before bouncing Zuri in her arms.

His daughter nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, Daddy, you a suck up," she stated sassily.

He poked her in the stomach, causing her to giggle. "You need to stop listening to your mother," he joked, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled before looking at his gorgeous wife. "You ready, Brie?" he asked.

She nodded her head and handed Zuri over to Jack. "Be good for Grandpa, okay, Zuri?" Zuri nodded and patted her grandpa's cheek.

She grabbed her clutch and kissed Zuri on the forehead and hugged Jack before Troy kissed Zuri and shook his dad's hand. "Thanks for doing this, Dad. I appreciate it."

Jack waved his hand. "It's nothing. It's your anniversary, and I love my granddaughter so it's really nothing at all," he replied.

Troy nodded. "Alright, if you need anything, just call."

Jack nodded, bouncing Zuri in his arms. "Okay, now go have fun, you two."

They waved to Zuri before going out through the garage to their car. As soon as they pulled out, Gabriella turned to look at her husband. "Where are we going?"

He smiled and shook his head. "It's a surprise, Brie." She huffed and fell back in her seat, crossing her arms. She hated surprises. Troy reached over and grabbed her left arm out, so he could hold her hand. "Don't be like that, Brie. I promise you'll like it," he assured, briefly glancing over at her before looking back at the road.

Gabriella sighed and laced their fingers. "I'm not going to like it," she paused, and he scowled, ready to argue, before she interrupted him. "I'm going to love it because I'll be with you," she said softly with a matching smile.

A grin stretched over his face, and he shook his head. "And I thought I was the cheesy one in this relationship," he joked.

She beamed before releasing his hand, gripping his bicep, and resting her head on his shoulder. "I've been with you too long. You've rubbed off on me," she stated, and he looked over at her and winked. The rest of the car ride was filled with comfortable silence and humming.

Ten minutes late, they pulled up to park, and Troy shut off the car. He turned to her and handed her a black blindfold. Her eyes widened. "Troy Bolton, we are not doing this here!" she whisper-yelled.

He rolled his eyes and placed the blindfold in her hand. "It's not for that, Gabs, relax. This is part of the surprise." As she put it on, he smirked. "We also could be using it later, though, if you decide to reward me."

She gasped and smacked his chest. "You are so naughty!"

"You love it," he stated, kissing her cheek.

She rolled her eyes behind the blindfold. "No one else will," she mumbled underneath her breath as he got out of the car. He came over to her side and opened the door, helping her out as she was now blind. "I feel like I'm going to be raped."

"It's not rape when you're willing."

She nodded her head. "True." She looped her arm with his and rested her head on his bicep. After a few more minutes, they stopped, and Troy made her face him. "Are we here?" she asked excitedly, bouncing on her feet.

He chuckled. "Yes, we are," he murmured as she eagerly reached up and pulled off the blindfold.

Gabriella gasped as she looked around, tears forming in her eyes. "It's so beautiful," she breathed in awe. Troy had completely transformed an area of the park they sometimes took Zuri to. He had placed white string lights all around the gazebo, and roses filled the path that led to the gazebo. Inside the gazebo was a table with large picnic basket on top, and a candle was in the middle of the table. She turned to her husband, and he smiled sheepishly at his wife of ten years. She attacked him in a hug, and he pulled her to him tightly. "I love it."

He pulled back and kissed her on the nose. "I'm glad," he rubbed his hands together, "Let's eat." They walked up to the gazebo, and he pulled out a chair for his wife, who thanked him and sat down. "Now, let's see what five-star cuisine we are having tonight!" Gabriella grinned as Troy opened the picnic basic. He first pulled out a container of grapes and then pulled out wine glasses with the red wine from Napa Valley.

"Oooh, I do love Napa Valley wine," she commented, the grin still present on her face.

"Who doesn't?" he queried, and she nodded her head. "Alright, so we've got the side and drinks. Now, the dessert." He whips out a giant bowl, and she felt her mouth water. He smirked at the look on his wife's face. "What's a picnic without chocolate covered strawberries?"

"It just wouldn't be right," she stated, recalling that night when he told her to go to Stanford senior year.

He smiled at her for a moment before looking down in the basket at the last thing. "Here we go, our delicious main entrée!"

Gabriella laughed as he pulled it out. "Is that what I think it is?"

He nodded. "A nice margherita pizza pie," he answered in an Italian accent.

She giggled as he sat down. "Is there any specific reason you recreated our picnic from that night senior year?"

"I just felt like it. That was a big moment for us and so is this; I wanted to recreate that. Now, let's get our grub on, woman." With that, they dove into their meal.

About thirty minutes and a whole bottle of wine later, they were finished with their food and had laid down on a blanket on the ground outside of the gazebo. Gabriella's wedges and Troy's dress shoes were thrown casually to the side as they looked up at the stars, her head on his chest. "I can't believe it's been ten years," she whispered. "It seemed like it was just yesterday that you were asking me to be your girlfriend."

He shifted and ran his hand up and down her arm. "I know. Sometimes, I just wonder where the time has gone," he murmured. It was quiet for a moment. "Brie?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want another baby?"

She abruptly sat up, and she clenched her eyes shut to stop the dizziness since she moved too fast. "What?"

He sat up onto his elbow and looked at his wife. "Another baby; do you want one?"

She bit her lip, but it didn't stop the truth from tumbling out, "Yes, I want one so badly, Troy. I want to have my own child that is half of you and half of me. I love Zuri, but it just isn't the same," she admitted.

Troy grinned up at his wife, his eyes glazed over due to the wine. "Then let's have a baby." He moved in to capture her lips, but she leaned back. He looked up at her in confusion. "Brie, what is it?"

She shook her head, tears unexpectedly gathering in her eyes. "But I _can't_ have a baby. My body rejects them. I wish I could. _God_ , I wish that I could give us our own children, but I can't. If we try, I might get pregnant, but I'll just lose it anyway," she whispered, turning away from him.

Her husband gave her a look of concern, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Gabriella," he breathed, "do you really think that?" She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her head. He sighed and rested his head on her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the fabric of her dress. "Why have you never told me you felt that way?" he murmured.

Gabriella rolled her lips inward. "I didn't want you to be in this misery with me. You light up every time you're around kids, and it sometimes makes me think that we could have a baby. But then reality comes back, and I'm proven right that I can't have a baby."

Troy turned her, so she was facing him. "I'm going to prove you wrong," he stated, pressing a kiss to her neck.

"What?"

His lips fluttered from her neck to her jaw. "I'm going to prove you wrong," he repeated seriously. He pulled away, and their eyes connected. "We're going to make a baby, here and now. You are going to get pregnant because how couldn't you with the amount of sex we're about to have? In nine months, we're going to have a baby, and Zuri will be a great older sister." He stroked her cheek, wiping away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Okay?"

She didn't know what else to say. If she was in the right state of mind, then she would refuse him. But she was far too gone and too emotional, so she replied, "Okay."

His lips were on hers in a passionate kiss within a second.

* * *

 _Present…_

She looked at the closed casket, emptiness settling deep within her bones.

The past two days had been a blur. She had somehow managed to call her mom and in-laws, and they had taken the funeral procession into their own hands.

The pastor, who hadn't even known Troy, went on about her husband as though he had been there through it all. A burst of anger surged through her. How dare he? How dare he stand up there, talking about her Troy like they were old friends?

Everyone knew he was a great surgeon, husband, and dad; everyone knew he was an amazing person, but they didn't know how amazing he had been.

They didn't know that he had performed a risky surgery that would have ruined his reputation if it went wrong for a guy who had a family at home that needed him more than anything, and that surgery was the only thing that would help him do that. They didn't know that he brought their pillows from home to the hospital every day for her so she could be comfortable in the on-call room. They didn't know that he played along enthusiastically with Zuri just to make her smile. They just knew he guy that saved a woman from getting shot, but they didn't know why he did that. They just knew Dr. Troy Bolton; they didn't know Troy, the extraordinary man that she had been lucky enough to spend the last sixteen years of her life with.

People touching her shoulder broke her from her thoughts, and she sent them all fake smiles. Taylor bent down so she was eye level with her. "Hey, Gabs, we'll see you at the house, okay? Lucille has Zuri, and they're already back home," she informed her. Gabriella nodded her head slowly. Taylor smiled sadly and patted her friend on the knee before standing up and leaving.

She stared at the casket. Maybe this was all a dream. A horrible, frightening, terrible dream. "Troy," she whispered. Her lips trembled as she heard the wind whistle. She rose slowly from her seat and moved hesitantly toward the casket.

She pressed her hands against the casket and shuddered. Her husband was in there. Her husband, who was living, breathing, smiling, and laughing just three days ago, was in there, dead and cold.

She wiped a tear away that had escaped and pressed her lips to the mahogany casket. "I love you, Troy Bolton." Gabriella sniffled and quickly walked away, heading for her car.

Fifteen minutes later, she arrived at her house. She turned off her car and just say in her car. The last time their house had so many cars was for Zuri's fourth birthday. She rolled her lips in. She desperately wished it was something happy like that, and Troy would be up there grilling burgers.

Gabriella shook her head and opened her door, and she saw most people were inside. She knew she should go in there, but she couldn't be around anyone yet. She wrapped her arms around herself and headed for the backyard. She opened the gate and saw that no children were loitering about, so she headed to the middle of the yard before sliding off her heels. She gripped the string ladder and climbed up to the top, sitting on the gorgeous tree house Troy and she had built two years ago.

Gabriella stood up, brushed the dirt off her black dress, and walked into the tree house. For a moment, she was frozen in her spot, just looking around the wooden house. There were pictures of them, pictures of them and Zuri, pictures of her with Zuri, pictures of him with Zuri, pictures of just Zuri, Zuri's toys, medical books; you name it, and it was up here.

She exhaled and walked over to where she could sit down. She sat on the squishy bean bag and pulled the blanket around her.

In that moment, Gabriella felt everything hit her at once. Tears started pouring down her face. The love of her life was dead, she had just _buried_ him, her heart was broken, she was empty inside, and she was just so tired.

* * *

 _One week before…_

Troy rubbed Gabriella's back in concern as she retched into the toilet. "Brie, you need to go home," he said softly. She stopped and flushed the toilet, turning to look at him with tired eyes. He handed her a wet paper towel, and she wiped off her mouth before standing up with shaky legs, Troy following suit.

"I can't; I'm on-call," she replied weakly as they walked out of the stall. She threw away the paper towel, and they both began washing their hands.

"Shapiro will understand. You're sick, and you need to go home and rest."

She shook her head and reached into her scrub pocket, grabbing a stick of gum and placing it in her mouth. "It's just a stomach bug. I feel completely fine now." He looked at her like he didn't believe her, and she rolled her eyes.

"A stomach bug doesn't last for a month, Brie."

Her pager then went off, and she looked at it, seeing a '911' from Montgomery. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I have to go," she said, spinning on her heel and heading for the door.

"Gabriella!"

"It's a 911!" came her reply. He shook his head before glancing around and realizing he was still in the girls' bathroom, and he quickly ran out of the restroom.

A few hours later, Gabriella, a plastic surgeon, Lauren Jacobsen, and a trauma surgeon, Michael Scott, who were in the same intern year as her and Troy, were eating lunch in the attendings' lounge. "I threw up again today," she stated, taking a bite from her sandwich.

"Again? You've been getting sick a lot the past few days," the dark brown-haired man pointed out before drinking from his water bottle.

She nodded her head. "I know. I think I just have a really bad stomach bug or something. Maybe it's pre-flu. I mean, it is October, and the flu starts hitting around November."

"Or you could be pregnant," Lauren suggested, pulling her long chestnut hair into a ponytail.

Gabriella's face whitened. She couldn't be pregnant. She and Troy had always been careful. Well, except for their anniversary.. "Oh God," she whispered.

* * *

 _Present…_

It was time to face the truth. She had to know for sure, although she had a fairly good idea. She paced around the bathroom for a few minutes after the timer went off.

' _Just look at the damn thing already, Gabriella!'_ she thought to herself. She let out a breath and grabbed the stick off the counter. Her hand flew up to her mouth, in relief or horror she didn't know, before she let the stick drop to the floor.

She ran out of the bathroom and pulled out a large suitcase for herself and Zuri's purple Little Mermaid suitcase. She began throwing her clothes into her suitcase and even grabbed a few of his things. She quickly went into Zuri's room and got as much as would go into her suitcase. She grabbed both suitcases and went downstairs and out into the garage. She opened the trunk of her car and tossed in the suitcases before shutting it. She opened the garage door and pulled her car out to the driveway before getting out and going back in through the front door. She grabbed her purse and phone before going back upstairs to Zuri's room. Gabriella opened the door and walked over to her daughter, and she stroked her cheek. "Z, wake up," she whispered.

Zuri's big brown eyes were tired and confused when she opened them, and she sat up in her bed. "Momma?"

The woman smiled at her daughter. "Hi, baby girl. I need you to get up for momma, okay?"

She nodded and stuck her arms out to her mom. Gabriella took her into her arms and stood up, walking out of the room. "Where are we going?" she asked sleepily, and Gabriella felt a sense of déjà vu wash of her.

She cleared her throat and gave her a small smile. "We're just going away for a little bit."

* * *

" _Hey, you know what? Someday, someday you guys might thank me for this," the emcee said as he handed the microphone to the teenage boy. "Or not," he added as he stepped off the stage. The boy looked at him in disbelief while the girl on the stage had a look of terror on her face. He looked over at her and noticed that she was pretty enough; at least from the side of her face since she was looking down at the ground with her arms crossed. The music started, and he placed the microphone back in its stand as he looked up at the screen._

"Living in my own world _,"_ _the girl glanced over at him before looking back down at the ground_

Didn't understand

That anything can happen

When you take a chance _," he sang. He couldn't believe he just did that! He was a basketball player, not a singer! He turned around and began walking to the back of the stage._

 _Meanwhile, the girl inhaled and closed her eyes, "_ I never believed in _." The boy stopped and looked back at the girl. Her voice was so.. beautiful._

"What I couldn't see

I never opened my heart _,"_

 _He came back to the microphone and added, "_ Ohhhh."

 _She looked over at him, and she realized with a blush how attractive he was before continuing, "_ To all the possibilities, ohh _,"_

" **I know** _," They both glanced at each other before quickly averting their eyes._

"That something has changed _,"_

" **Never felt this way** _,"_

"And right here tonight _,"_

" **This could be the start of something new** _ **,**_ _"_

"It feels so right _,_ _"_

" **To be here with you, ohh** _" They both looked at each other and smiled, the words of the song seeming to fit this situation perfectly._

* * *

 _Troy nervously glanced down at her hand as they walked down the streets of Albuquerque. '_ Just grab her hand and ask her. You've already kissed her, this is supposed to be easier _.' He wiped his hands on his jeans to try to get the sweat off his hands._

 _During this internal battle, Gabriella was walking alongside him, and she noticed his nervousness. She inwardly grinned at how adorable he was, and she reached over and grabbed his hand._

 _He stopped and looked over at her in surprise before giving her a sheepish smile. He rubbed the back of his neck, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I have something I want to ask you."_

 _She bit her lip, trying to suppress her smile. "What is it?"_

 _He let out a deep breath before looking into her chocolate brown eyes. "This past month and half of getting to know you has been amazing, and I feel as though I've known you as long as I've known Chad. So, Gabriella Montez, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked timidly._

 _Her eyes twinkled like the stars above them. "Yes," she whispered. He grinned, and he pulled her to him, placing a peck to her lips._

* * *

 _Five months after…_

"I'm really worried about Gabriella, girls. It's been five months," Taylor confessed to the other two girls, fiddling with her fingers. Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, Zeke, Lauren, and Michael were all gathered at the Danforth household for their every other week get-together. Lauren and Michael had joined the old Wildcat gang after spending so much time with Troy and Gabriella, and everyone else liked them immediately.

"She has to be fine, right? She would've called us if something bad had happened to her or Zuri, right?" Lauren asked worriedly.

Sharpay rolled her hazel eyes. "Lauren, she didn't even tell us she was leaving. Why would she call us?" she pointed out. Lauren pouted and crossed her arms, leaning back against the couch. She sighed. "Troy died so abruptly on her. They were Troy and Gabriella; everyone thought they would be together until they died in their sleep when they were 114 years old. She has to learn how to be Gabriella again, and she'll come back when she's ready." Taylor and Lauren agreed, and they moved on to what their kids had been doing lately.

Meanwhile, the guys were messing around in Chad's "mancave" in the basement, watching college basketball since it was March Madness. "Oh come on! Are you blind?! The guy tripped him! How could you miss that call!?" Michael yelled at the referee through the TV.

"Dude, he flopped on purpose! He barely touched him," Zeke pointed out. Michael turned to him, and the two began a heated conversation over who was right.

Chad saw this as his opportunity to do what he did every day, and he snuck into the bathroom downstairs. He pulled out his phone and went to his contacts, scrolling until he found the person he wanted. He clicked on 'Gabs' and pressed the call button, and he held the phone up to his ear.

" _Chad?"_

He almost dropped the phone from his hand. She answered! After five months of silence, she finally picked up his phone call. "Gabs, is that really you?" he asked in awe.

" _Yes, it's me."_

"H-how are you?! How's Zuri? Where are you guys? Are you okay?" he rambled off questions. Chad just couldn't believe it was actually her!

He heard her sigh. _"We're fine, Chad. We're fine right where we are, so_ please _stop calling."_

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Wh- wait, Gabriella!"

" _Bye, Chad."_ The line disconnected, and he stared at his phone in disbelief. What was wrong with her that she couldn't even tell him where she was?

* * *

 _Six months after…_

"Are you tucked in nice and tight, Z?" Gabriella asked her daughter, stroking her head.

Zuri nodded. "Yes, momma." She leaned up and held out her cheek, and Gabriella kissed her cheek. She then began the process of getting up from Zuri's bed, and she pushed herself off with one hand on the bed and one hand on her large stomach. She then moved her hands to her back as she basically waddled to the door. "Mommy?"

She turned back to look at her daughter. "What is it, Zuri?" she asked softly, already knowing what the answer was.

"I miss Daddy," she whispered, and Gabriella rolled in her lips. Zuri would tell her this about three nights a week.

She swallowed hard before smiling sadly. "Me too, baby, me too," she stated, and she went to leave before pausing and turning back to her. "Do you want to come sleep in Mommy's room?" Zuri nodded and quickly got out of her bed, running over to her mom and grabbing her hand.

A sharp pain ripped through her stomach, and she winced, gripping her stomach. "Mommy?" Zuri asked worriedly. Gabriella tried to smile reassuringly, but it turned into a grimace. She felt liquid running down her leg, and Zuri screamed. "Momma, you're bleeding!" she screeched.

She cursed as she looked down and saw blood. The contraction subsided, and she leaned against the wall. "Z, go grab the phone," she panted, trying to catch her breath. Tears were dripping down her face, and she shook her head, not wanting to leave her mom. Gabriella looked her in the eyes. "Zuri, I know you're scared, but I need you to be brave. I'm going to be fine. I need you to grab my cell phone, so I can go to the hospital, okay?" Zuri hesitated, still not believing her. Gabriella sighed. "Think of what Daddy would want you to do, okay, Z? He'd want you to be strong and go get the phone for me." She finally relented and ran into the bedroom.

She gripped her stomach as the contraction came again. "I-I got it," Zuri said shakily.

Gabriella groaned before sucking in deep breaths. "911," she gasped.

Zuri pressed the numbers and held up the phone to her ear. "My mommy's bleeding. Sh-she is pregnant with my sissy and brother." There was a pause as the operator talked to her. "I don't know where we are!" she exclaimed, getting upset with herself.

"Shhh, Z, calm down," Gabriella whispered weakly. Zuri looked at her mom for a moment and listened to the operator before hanging up the phone. "Are they coming?" she asked breathlessly. The little girl nodded her head and moved to sit next to Gabriella, curling into her side.

* * *

 _She looked up at him, a smile on her face. "Here's to the future."_

 _He shook his head. "No," he disagreed, "here's to right now."_

 _She gave him a half, mouth-closed smile before standing on her tiptoes and placing her lips to his. They let the lanterns that they were holding go, and Gabriella's hand came up to rest on his face while Troy's landed on her waist._

* * *

" _I love you, Gabriella Montez. I have loved you since I was sixteen years old. Honestly, I could talk about you all day and all night, never ceasing to stop, and I'd still have more things to say about you. But after a while, words become meaningless. Here is the shortest way I can explain who you are to me: You are the most extraordinary person I have met, and I can't imagine you not being in my life. There is no pretending, I love you, and I will love you until the day I die. And if there is a life after that, I'll love you then."_

* * *

"Mrs. Bolton, your husband's here." Gabriella blinked and turned towards the door, a smile growing on her face.

"Brie, you did great," his bright blue eyes twinkled as he walked over to her.

"Did you see them?" she asked sleepily.

He smiled, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead before stroking her hair. "I did. They're gorgeous. Zuri's still there with my parents."

"You still have your scrub cap on," she pointed out.

"Oh, yeah!" He pulled the blue Hawaiian scrub cap off and placed it in his scrub pockets. "I came immediately from surgery," he explained.

She nodded her head. "What are we going to name them?"

"Hmmmm, how about this? You name the boy, and I name the girl?" he suggested.

Gabriella smiled. "Okay." She thought about their little boy, and she knew immediately what his name would be. "I have mine," she announced, her smile stretching into a grin.

Her husband rolled his eyes. "Of course you do, you overachiever. It better be great; I don't want my son having a terrible name."

She giggled. "Oh, I'm thinking you'll love this one." He hmphed and went back to thinking.

His eye brightened. "I've got it!" he exclaimed.

"You go," they said at the same time.

"Troy."

"Gabriella."

They glared at each other for a moment. "Ladies first," she said.

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Then you should go first," he stated.

"I gave birth to them, so I say you go first."

His shoulders dropped and sighed. "You had to go there, didn't you?" She smirked triumphantly and motioned for him to go on. "Alright. For our five pound and three ounce, eighteen inch baby girl, her name will be Sawyer Gabriella Bolton."

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Troy, you used my name."

He shrugged. "You're beautiful, and she's beautiful. It fits her." He nudged her softly. "Now, what's our future ladies' man's name?"

She laughed and wiped away her tears. "Don't let this get to your head, okay?" His eyebrows rose. "I want to name him Troy David Alexander Bolton, Jr. and have him go by Alex, so you two don't get confused." Troy turned away from her quickly, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Troy? I-is that not okay?" she asked worriedly. "If you want, I can- I guess I can think of something else."

He turned back around, and tears were in his beautiful blue eyes, some slowly rolling down his face. "You want-you want to name him after me?" he asked in awe.

She nodded her head slowly. "Yes, I do."

He rushed over to her, and Gabriella opened her arms, allowing him to fall in her embrace. "Thank you, baby. I love you so much," he said, his word muffled by her gown.

She smiled softly and ran her hand through his hair. "I love you, too."

* * *

"Mrs. Bolton, your husband's here." Gabriella blinked and turned towards the door, a smile growing on her face.

"So I'm your husband, huh?" Chad asked, a smile present on his face.

"They're probably freaking out over how my babies are white," she joked tiredly.

He chuckled and came over, sitting on the bed. "So, twins? Go big or go home."

"You know he never did anything half-assed." He nodded his head, a small smile on his face. "Did you see them?"

"Yes. They're beautiful, Gabs."

She beamed. "I know. I see him in them both so much," she said proudly.

Her smile was contagious, and his small smile spread into a grin. "What are their names?"

"My daughter is Sawyer Gabriella Bolton, and my son… he's Troy David Alexander Bolton, Jr."

* * *

 _Eleven months after…_

She was ready. She could do this.

She shrugged off her white lab coat and hung it on the rack with the other doctors. She paused as she spotted his coat. She bit her lip, and she reached into the left pocket. She grinned as her hand felt the material, and she grabbed it, pulling it out.

Gabriella kept it close to her as walked to the OR. She opened the door and walked into the scrub room. She placed it on the counter as she pulled her hair into a low bun. She grabbed it off the counter and just stared at the blue Hawaiian scrub cap. She shook herself out of her thoughts and placed the cap on her head, tying it secure. She finished the scrubbing process before making her way into the actual OR. One of the scrub nurses came over and put the scrub gown on her while another slid on a pair of gloves.

She walked over to the operating table, her seven year old patient on the table. "Alright, everyone, are we ready?" People murmured their agreement, and she nodded her head, holding out her hand. "Scalpel."

* * *

 _Five years after…_

Gabriella smiled softly as she watched her three children run around with one another. Zuri was a beautiful nine year old, who was a star student, and she was quiet and sweet. Her fuzzy black hair had grown into tight, coiled curls that reached her shoulders, and she had grown to the size of an average nine year old.

Alex had grown to be the tallest boy in kindergarten, and he was a definite wild child. He was causing mischief left and right, and she had brought him home from school multiple times for getting in so much trouble. He participated in soccer, basketball, and baseball, and that helped in calming him down. He had inherited her ebony colored hair, which was styled in a cute shag, and he also had Troy's oceanic blue eyes.

Sawyer was definitely a personality mix between her siblings. She was outgoing, but not overly crazy like her brother. She played softball and was a young Einsteinette, already learning things for third graders. She had long, curly chestnut hair, and she had Gabriella's chocolate brown eyes.

The last five years had been a roller-coaster for her family. Some days in the first year after she returned home were so hard for Gabriella that she couldn't get out of bed, and she sometimes used to not even be able to look at the twins. But she had seemed to figure it out, and her and her kids thrived each and every day. The twins knew about their extraordinary dad from her and Zuri's stories of him. Her career had taken off, and she was now the Head of Pediatrics.

Gabriella went back inside her house and went upstairs to her room. She grabbed a picture frame from her dresser and sat on her bed. "You'd be proud, Troy," she said to the picture of her smiling husband. "Our kids are so amazing; no, they're extraordinary, just like you'd want them to be." She sniffled and wiped her nose. "They're beautiful," her voice cracked. "I miss you every single day, baby. I can't believe it's been five years since you-you died. It's getting easier. It's getting easier to live without you. I don't know how I've done it, but I have. I finally went back to Sophie's yesterday. I-it was hard, but our babies helped me out." She wiped away the tears that escaped. She touched his smile and smiled down at the picture. "I love you, Troy," she whispered, placing a kiss to his picture before placing it on her side table.

"Mom?" She looked up to see her children huddled together at her door.

She gave them a watery smile. "Hi, my dears."

They walked into the room and jumped on the bed next to her. "Are you okay, Mommy?" Sawyer asked, leaning her head on her mom's right shoulder.

She nodded her head. "Yes, now that you three are here." Zuri leaned over and wiped the tears from her mom's cheeks, and Gabriella sent her a thankful smile.

"Momma!" Alex suddenly exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her neck from behind.

"What is it, Al?" she asked, trying to place some enthusiasm in her tone.

"I want to show you my new bat trick I learned from Matt!" He jumped down from the bed and sprinted out of the room, Sawyer following her brother immediately.

Zuri looked up at her before looking down at her hands. "I miss him, too," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "I don't remember much, but I do remember him scaring away the monsters in my nightmares." She shook her head. "I just remember all these little things about him, nothing that's even important. I remember that he used to always take away the mashed carrots you'd give me and trade them with mash peas because 'the carrots were too ugly to be put in something so beautiful.'"

Gabriella smiled. "He did hate mashed carrots, didn't he?" Zuri nodded with a small smile, and she rubbed her oldest daughter's back. "It's okay to remember just the little things. Sometimes, the little things are more important than the big things."

"Thanks, Mom," she said, standing up from the bed.

"Anytime, Z. Now, let's go see your brother's crazy new trick." She stood up from her bed, and the two walked out of the room.

Gabriella smiled to herself. Her life hadn't turned out as she had expected, but it certainly was still extraordinary.

* * *

 **How'd you guys like this little story? Let me know in the reviews, helpful criticism is welcomed :)**

 **I'm currently working on a longer story for HSM, so be on the lookout for that in the next few months**

 **-AlwaysLaughing.x**


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